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MR . BELCHER : How many people were in the Attorney General ’ s Office at that time ?
MR . GIBSON : There was the Attorney General , the Deputy and Louie Peck . Louie Peck was called “ legal assistant .” Three of us .
MR . BELCHER : What year was that ?
MR . GIBSON : Must have been around ’ 56 or ’ 57 . But they started the highway construction program on the Interstate and so the highway department had first one , then two , then three lawyers , all working under the supervision of the Attorney General , to do the condemnation cases . Louis Peck sort of supervised them for me .
MR . BELCHER : What sorts of cases did you do as Deputy Attorney General ?
MR . GIBSON : Well , mostly it was writing legal opinions . I remember the first opinion I wrote was for the Adjutant General . I wrote an opinion saying that he couldn ’ t do what he wanted to do which made him wild . I remember he wrote me a nasty letter . It had to do with whether the National Guard was part of the armed forces of the United States for the purposes of liquor control or something and I said , “ No they weren ’ t ” and that threw him up a wall .
MR . BELCHER : So the Attorney General used to provide some legal assistance in big cases .
MR . GIBSON : Usually the Attorney General would take over the murder cases .
MR . BELCHER : Did you get involved in murder cases ?
MR . GIBSON : When I was States Attorney we had a murder case . It was highly publicized . Fred Mehlman was assigned by the court to defend . The case was moved to Windsor County because of publicity . I prepared the case and the witnesses and did the legal research , but Bob Stafford was the Attorney General so he was the guy in charge of the trial . I probably did as much of the trial as he did . He wanted me to make the first argument to the jury and save the rebuttal for himself . We went down to Windsor to try that case and Fred Mehlman did a great job as he always did . Still , we got a conviction .
MR . BELCHER : So tell me a little of the facts of that case .
MR . GIBSON : This guy who lived on a farm in Caledonia County with his parents was up in Barton getting some education . He was driving back down and he picked up a hitchhiker . And the hitchhiker asked to let him out on the road to Sutton to relieve himself or to get some water or something . The farmer stopped and let him out , and then he just shot him . The hitchhiker shot the poor farmer . I ’ m not sure if he pulled the driver out and left him by the side of the road or left him in the vehicle but I remember the vehicle was found almost down to Lyndonville on
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the road to Lyndon Corners , where Lyndon Institute is .
MR . BELCHER : Why did he shoot him ? What was the motive ?
MR . GIBSON : Who knows ? No good reason . Just a nasty SOB I guess .
MR . BELCHER : I ’ m interested in how Mr . Mehlman was assigned to represent the defendant . First of all , who was Fred Mehlman ?
MR . GIBSON : Fred was an attorney in the office of Arthur Greaves who was a long-time attorney and one of the best attorneys in the state . Fred Mehlman was an associate and he was an excellent attorney all around .
MR . BELCHER : Do you know how it happened that he was assigned to represent this defendant ?
MR . GIBSON : I have no idea . They just took turns . Probably it was his turn . But they could not have picked a better one .
MR . BELCHER : In those days when you were asked to represent a criminal defendant did you get paid ?
MR . GIBSON : Yes , I think so , but it was not very much . You did not have any choice of course .
MR . BELCHER : Who would ask you to do the representing ?
MR . GIBSON : The judge who was sitting in Caledonia , the Superior judge . They moved around , county to county . Whoever happened to be the Superior Court judge would call up the lawyer and say : “ I ’ m appointing you to represent such and such .” In this case people were very enraged in Lyndon and St . Johnsbury that this poor farmer had been shot by this guy . So , poor Fred … people in stores , everywhere , I would go into stores and they would start complaining about Fred . But I would give them hell and say , “ What are you talking about ? Every defendant is entitled to a lawyer defending him . And besides , Fred did not choose to do that . The court appointed him . He had no choice .”
MR . BELCHER : How was Bob Stafford as a lawyer ? MR . GIBSON : Oh , very good .
MR . BELCHER : How long were you in the Attorney General ’ s office in that role ?
MR . GIBSON : Not too long because Tom Debevoise got over there in September or October and he left to become counsel to the Federal Power Commission in January or February . So Ray Keyser appointed Charles Adams of Waterbury . He was a more experienced attorney . Charlie still had a practice in Waterbury that he wanted to return to . He did not want to be attorney General . So that ’ s when I started to run for Attorney General .
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MR . BELCHER : And how did that go ? Was that a fun exercise to run for state office ?
MR . GIBSON : Well , I don ’ t know . It was kind of a pain , but I traveled all over the state meeting people . I met sheriffs . Greg Lequier was the detective in the Attorney General ’ s Office and he was the best investigator in the state . He helped . I went down to Bennington and he would introduce me to the sheriff and the sheriff would take me around the county . We would go to some of the other counties and meet the sheriff and they would take me around . Bob Larrow was running against me , one of the top lawyers in the state . He had a big practice going in Burlington . McNamarra and Larrow . He couldn ’ t afford to become attorney general , so it ’ s a good thing he didn ’ t . [ Laughs ].
MR . BELCHER : Do you recall what year it was that you became Attorney General ? MR . GIBSON : Probably 1962 .
MR . BELCHER : And how long did you serve ?
MR . GIBSON : Just one term . At the end of the term , disaster struck for the Republicans . I would have liked to have served another term or two . I think I had done a good job and I think everyone thought I had done a good job , but the political climate , stemming from Barry Goldwater running for President , allowed for a democratic overhaul in the state of Vermont . The State Treasurer , George Amidon , a top-notch guy who had been there for thirty years ; Howard Armstrong who had been Secretary of State for twenty years ; and Anderson , who had been auditor of accounts for thirty years , were all replaced .
MR . BELCHER : Was John Connarn your successor ? MR . GIBSON : Yes .
MR . BELCHER : So what did you do then ?
MR . GIBSON : Well , I thought of going back to St . Johnsbury . And Ryan , Smith and Carbine --John Carbine wanted me to come down and join them ; and also someplace in Burlington , I had a chance to go . But Austin Noble who had been Tax Commissioner and John Patterson who had been Public Service Board Chairman , were starting a law firm right here in Montpelier , and they wanted me to join them to start a new law firm here in Montpelier . I thought that sounded pretty good , instead of going to Rutland or Burlington . I would be much closer to my home in So . Ryegate and much closer to St . Johnsbury where I knew a lot of people . I had an aunt who lived in Montpelier , who was the director of Public Assistance , and I thought with the three ex-state officials being here in Montpelier it would be a good location for a law firm for us . So that ’ s what I decided to do .
MR . BELCHER : So when you first started
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Charles Gibson |